Building construction



A. A. RICHARDSON.

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED Dc.3, |917.

Patented Feb..1( 1920 ALFONSO A. RICHARDSON, 0F YORK, N. Y.

BUILDING CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent. v Patented 14161)(10, 1920.

Application led December 3, 1917.7 Serial No. 2015.070.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, ALFONSO A. RICHARD- soN, a citizeny of the United States, residing at New York city, N. Y., have invented certain new and useful Improvements 1n Building Construction, of which the following is a clear, full, and eXact description.

This invention relates to improvements in building construction, of the type in which the parts can be made up and afterward quickly assembled. One of the ,objects of the invention is to provide a cheap construction, especially adapted for hot climates. Another object of the invention is to enable a building of the bungalow type to be put up cheaply and quickly, without necessitating the use of wood, nails, or the like. Still another object of the invention is to provide any desired lengths of ma terial to be used ,in wall or partition construction, said lengths of material being non-metallic and comprising a web of open mesh fibrous fabric which carries -a plurality of slabs or panels, such for instance as plaster board, in which the meshesof the fabric are embedded, said slabs or panels being suitably separated so that the webs with the panels thereon may be folded up for convenient storage or transportation.

These being among the objects of the present invention, the same consists of certain features of construction and combinations of parts to be hereinafter described and then claimed with reference to the accompanying drawings illustratingone embodiment of the invention, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of a portion of a building, comprising a skeleton frame-work to which are attached partition or wall members;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a fragment of the panel web of fabric folded up;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view on a plane just above one of the horizontal metal bars;

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a detail, showing the principal means for anchoring the wall or partition members;

Fig. 5 is anenlarged detail view showing vthe fibrous Vfabric embedded in adjacent .panels or slabs and a supporting bar passing through certain meshes of the fabric; Figlm 1s enlarged .section on the .line

woven or knitted together, or which may be,

knotted together at the point of intersection of said lengths. Preferably, lthe. librous cord or rope is made of some strong and comparatively cheapjbers, such as those of Sisal grass. grass usually has numerous iibers or ends, such as 13, projecting therefrom. These projecting fibers or ends 13 are -usually inydividugtl and untwisted, and'have consider able tensile strength if the vcord or rope is made of'Sisal grass. Each web 10 ofthe said open-mesh fabric is provided with slabs or panels 14 which are spaced apart at 15 and which preferablyrun parallel with each other, so that the web with the slabs thereon can be folded up as shown in Fig. 2. The panels or slabs 14 may consist of plasterv board or any suitable material, such as cement, pulp of waste material or the like,

which can be molded into shape upon either'l or both sides of the fabric webs, so that the meshes of the webs will be embedded in the plastic composition, which willy thereafter Cord or rope made of such set and harden so as'to form hard slabs lor Y panels supported by the webs. It will be seen that not only by reason of the twisted and fibrous character of the rope or cord, the fabric and the slabs or panels will be that. the integrality of each slab or panel is .further maintained by the anchorage kor lirmly bound, and cemented together, but Y hold afforded it by the projecting fibers or ends 13.

loo

The webs or strips 10-o'f fabric will not only have open meshes betweenthe slabs or panels, butY preferably the end meshes 16V project beyond thev end slabs or panelsV in .the form of loops, ,asY clearly shown ,inl Fig.

v'lfheseI baredend,'meshes lor loops 16A are provided.

adapted to receive insert or end rods 17, 18, which are run through said end meshes, the adjacent ends of said rods being inserted in sockets 19 which are carried by the end uprights 20 of the eventual skeleton frame of the wall or partition. The sockets v19, as shown clearly in Fig. t, are preferably com posed of strips of metal bent into suitable shape to form sockets and which are riveted or otherwise secured to the metallic uprights 20, said sockets being spaced suitable distances apart corresponding with the width of the webs of fabric to be employed. The sockets 19 support the intermediate ends of the insert or end rods 17, 18, while the upper and lower ends of each longitudinal series of said rods are suitably anchored in the floor and ceiling of the structure, which may be of suitable material. Intermediate metallic uprights, such as 21, are inserted into some of the meshes of the fabric which are exposed between the slabs or panels la, and with the horizontal metal rods lor bars 22 they form a part 'of the skeleton frame comprising them and the end uprights 20.

'A wall or partition may be built up as follows: A suitable ceiling and floor being connected by end uprights 20, which are spaced at the desired ldistance apart, are These uprights will be so placed that the sockets 19 thereon will be presented toward each other in the plane of the ultimate wall or partition to be formed. An insert or end rod is then inserted into vthe series of meshes exposed at each end of the lweb or strip 10. One of said rods is then lower end of said vrod is suitably engaged with the iioor and the upper with the socket of that upright, as was the case before.

Over the wall or partition member con sisting of the so applied web of paneled fabric, there is placed one of the horizontal groove in its lower surface will receive the upper edges of thepanels or slabs of the web or strip 10 which has been already applied in position, as stated. The groove in the upper surface offsaid channel barr will receive the lower edges of the slabs or panels of the next web or strip 10, which is of the same construction as the paneled web or strip before described, and which is attached at its ends to the uprights 20 in a similar way. This process is continued until a complete wall or partition extending from floor to ceiling is produced, although previously to the completion thereof 0r after its completion intermediate uprights, such as 21, are passed at suitable intervals through certain of the meshes of the 'fabric exposed at the spaces 15, but not necessarily through all of the exposed meshes at all of said spaces. rlhe said intermediate uprights can pass through holes, such as 24, in the horizontal rods or bars 22. If preferred,v the interme-1 diate upright bars or rods 21 can be made of lengths such as the insert or end rods 17 18, which will enable the more convenient application of the said intermediate uprights to the structure. l The horizontal bars may evidently be fiat as at 26, Fig. 9.

ltV is obvious that the described structure can be stiffened in any suitable manner if it is not sti enough.

Not only does the described construction of the wall or partition members of fibrous fabric and plaster board or the like provide a cheap construction, but it can be made wherever the buildings are to be put up, while the metal parts can be shipped from some other place. The flexibility of the open meshes of the fibrous fabric enables the same to be readily engaged over the supporting bars or rods, which can therefore be located directlyin the plane of the slabs or panels. After the structure, as described, has been erected so as to form a room or building, the walls or partitions will preferably be plastered at both sides', one of theV layers of plaster being indicated at 25, Fig.l 7 which is a cross-section of a finished wall or partition in which one side only is plastered. It will be noted Vfrom this figure that the finishing plaster will enter all crevices or gaps in the structure and that at intervals it will kembed certain meshes of the fabric exposed to it, so that when the finishing layers of plaster set and harden, they will be firmly bound and cemented to the interior structure of the wall or partition, thereby Vfabric to form the panels or slabs 14, it is preferable to form them at onerside of the fabric, so as to leave some of the fabric exposed at corresponding sides of the panels, as shown in Fig. 6, so that the fabric will be partly bared at said sides. vOn applying a layer of plaster to a wall containing such a construction, it will adhere to projecting fibers and to the exposed portions of said fabric at the said sides of the panels, and it may not be necessary to plaster the other sides. A

In making the paneled fabric, it is preferred to have the fabric dry and to apply the wet plastic composition to said dry fabric, thereby providing a more intimate connection between the composition and loose fibers when the composition is dried.

It is obvious that the described invention is susceptible of more or less modification so as to still be within the scope of the claims.

What I claim as new is:

l. A structural member, comprising openmesh fabric of fibrous material, made of coarse vegetable filbers, such as those of Sisal grass, said fabric having numerous unfabricated fibers of said material protruding therefrom, and an artificial panel in which the meshes of said fabric and said unfabricated fibers are embedded.

2. A structural member, comprising a web of open-mesh fabric of brous material, made of coarse vegetable fibers, such as those of Sisal grass, and separated artificial panels in which some of the meshes of said fabric are embedded, other meshes of said falbric being left free at the lines of separation of said panels.

3. A structural member, comprising a web of open-mesh fabric of fibrous material, made of coarse vegetable fibers, said fabric having numerous fibers of said material ro'- truding therefrom and separated arti cial panels in which some of the meshes of said fabric and some of said protruding bers are embedded, other meshes of said fabric being left free at the lines ofv separation of said panels.

t. In a wall or partition, a substantially rigid skeleton structure, and members comprising open-mesh fabric of cord, composed of separate fibers, and panels bound to said composed of separate fibers, and panels bound to said webs of fabric, some of the meshes of said fabric being looped over some of the elements of said skeleton structure and connecting the said members in succes@ sion therewith.

6. In a wall or partition, a substantially rigid skeleton structure comprising supporting members, members comprising` webs of open-mesh fabric, separated lpanels thereon, and insert-rods supported by said supporting members and movable into and located in cert-ain meshes of said webs of fabric to support said webs in close suc-cession.

A structural member, comprising a web of open-mesh fabric of cord composed of separate fibers, and separated artificial panels in which some ofthe meshes of said fabric are embedded but exposed at corresponding sides of said panels, other meshes of said fabric being left entirely free between said panels.

8. In a wall or partition, a substantially rigid skeleton structure, a member comprising a web of open-mesh fabric of cord composed of separate coarse fibers and separated artificial panels bound to said web, said web having some of said fibers loosely projecting therefrom and beyond corresponding sidesof said panels, and some of the meshes of said fabric being looped over some of the elements of said skeleton structure, and a layer of plastic material applied to the said fabric and the said panels at said sides.

Signed at New York city, N. Y., this 26th day of November, 1917. v

ALFONSO A. RICHARDS-ON. 

